I’ve been searching for an editor for about two weeks and have some suggestions for those offering editing services.
In short, please craft a concise web page. Please do not embed the relevant information in free text, forcing a prospect to have to pick through a rambling document. Long-to-load graphics are not appreciated, especially on a phone or tablet. Provide all information in the site with minimal scrolling required for access. Multiple clicks to obtain information increase the chance your prospective client will get lost in the internet.
Information to provide on your landing page (bullet points please):
Name
Education
Experience
Your main gig (teacher, author, editor)
Your main area as an editor – ie fiction and subcategory, or medical or academic.
Number of completed projects, broken down into categorys
Number of years as an editor
Additional special skills/features ie languages, graphic arts, etc
Please post free text information about your special process and experience or personal situation below the above key information.
Info to provide on your samples page:
Completed projects by category (percentages or list, your books with star ratings, books edited with star ratings (we know ratings of editing projects don’t necessarily reflect your input). Multiple book covers images are long-to-load, and links to Amazon are time consuming. The more a prospect has to click off your page, the more likely you are to lose that prospect.
Information to provide on your services page:
Developmental edit – price per word
Line edit – price per word
Copy edit – price per word
Etc.
Just state how much you cost and don’t try to game it. Beating around the bush and hiding costs just loses clients. Everybody knows how many words their manuscript contains. The software spits it out. Cost per page requires strict definition – page size, font, spacing. Cost per page may force a compile which will lose you a client because really, who will bother?
Put the long description of what each service is down below so prospects who know what they’re looking for don’t have to scroll through a ton of text.
In short, information presented concisely and all in one place.
Thanks.
